Ninety-six letters to the Tatler and the Spectator, representing
what is probably the largest extant body of unpublished material
relating directly to the two journals, appeared for the first time
in print in this book.
The original letters were not published in the Tatler or the
Spectator, but they were preserved by the editors and eventually
found their way into the Marlborough and the Tickell collections.
They have been prepared for publication and edited, with notes and
an introduction, by an authority in the field of early
periodicals.
The letters will be of especial interest to students of early
eighteenth-century England, for few literary forms more clearly
reflect the times in which they are written than the letter,
particularly the letter to the editor. A wide range of writers is
represented--the inarticulate and the witty, the serving maid and
the gentleman. Subject matter is equally diverse, including such
topics as women's petticoats, free thinking, the state lottery, the
nuisance of a smoking wife, cock-throwing, and Platonic love.
Why the letters were not published in the Tatler or the
Spectator is a matter for conjecture. Some of them were apparently
used by Addison or Steele as topics for essays. Occasionally a
letter was received or rewritten by the editors and printed in an
altered form. Whatever the reason for their survival, these letters
will be of value to students of language and literary journalism,
social conditions, and popular philosophy.
General
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